WEEK 59

We had a great week and super busy! We worked at the Christmas lights about 3 times this week and then had a Christmas Relief Society activity, the ward Christmas activity, and the temple/zone Conference. So we were super busy, but it was good! We had our investigator Julian and his kids came to the ward Christmas party. I'll send a bunch of pictures! But sorry for he short email this week! It will be longer next week. But I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and I'm so excited to speak with my family on Christmas!!!

Hermana Brown

WEEK 58: I threw up for the first time since 4th grade...

Wow! What a week! Sorry for the gruesome title, but I'll explain later...

Is WEEK was one full of meetings and miracles! On Thursday we had a Mission tour with Elder Gavaret from the seventy! It was really good and he gave us a lot of good counsel and advice, it was a really long meeting, but very rewarding. The next day on Friday he was giving a Spanish devotional in the Liahona 4th building! It was kind of strange. We tried sooooo hard to get some investigators to come, but everyone was busy, or sick, or working. So we got there at the building and we realized no one was coming, but we really didn't want to leave, but unfortunately we had to. As we started driving away we both felt a little weird and we didn't know what it was. So we decided to pull over and say a prayer to know if the Lord wanted us at the fireside. After praying we decided we would go back to the church building and see if we felt better or see if any one showed up. We went inside and all the people from Liahona 4 were coming in and it was so good to see them all! Some didn't remember me, but that was when I couldn't speak. But a lot of them were amazed at how I can speak now! It's kind of weird how it works. But we kept waiting and no one was showing up, but we really felt good inside and that that's where we needed to be, so then Sister Novak came out and she asked me if I played the piano, which I do, and she said that the person who was going to play wasn't going to be able to make it. So I was able to play for the devotional and it went fairly well! When I was with Sister Escobar I made a goal to share my talents more, and now the Lord has provided me with sooooooo many opportunities to do that. I play the piano for EVERYONE now and I love it!

So to explain the title, yesterday we ate a huge dinner and we were soooo full after wards. So after dinner we felt a little bit better and we went to go find some of the people who we haven't seen for a while, one was Rubi and Alex. We went over and the door was open and there were a lot of people there and we discover it was Rubi's birthday! They invited us in and gave us a piece of cake, which was good but I was having a hard time finishing it. Then they asked us if we wanted some Mole and we told them we were good, but they were like, just a little bit! So we agreed, and they serve us this HUGE plate of mole with rice. We ate it and it was a lot of food and I just felt really gross. I didn't finish the plate but hey didn't seem offended so that was good. I was feeling sooooo sick but sister Howard began to share a message. I was able to testify of what she said and when we closed to the message I immediately asked to use the bathroom. When I got in there I threw up. So that was the first time since fourth grade since I've thrown up. But yeah! I feel a lot better now! No worries!

We have seen so many miracles at Christmas lights and everything! So yeah super cool. Love you all! Oh yeah! We met someone from Cheyenne and his name was Joseph Peterson and he knows all the browns! He told me a story of how Grandpa would give him gold dollars in church if he memorized the articles of faith. And I was like, yep! That's grandpa! 

Have a great week everyone!

Hermana Brown

Dead Christmas house

Behind the scenes at Christmas lights

The Barreras boys got baptized on Saturday! We all did a musical number(at which I did play the piano) and it was soooo cute! They are in Pueblo ward.

We played quidditch for zone sports this morning!

WEEK 57: The Water is in the Firmament 💦

We had a super great week! A little busy because of Christmas lights but still many miracles! It was a week where we spent a lot of time with Galina and her family! This week we went to Christmas lights with her and she brought her brothers family with her! It was all their first time going so it was really cool to walk around with them and show them everything. We also had quite the adventure before going with her. So Galina now lives in the Gilbert Mission, but got permission to keep coming to the branch for a few months, since she just got baptized. So we knew we were going to the lights with her on Thursday and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity for her to meet the missionaries in her mission. So we went through a lot to figure out and contact the Gilbert missionaries and we finally did it. But it was getting close to time and they texted us saying that they couldn't find a ride from a member to go outside of their mission. So we texted back jokingly that we could meet at the border, and they said that would actually work! So we called our mission president really quick to see if we could pick them up out side the mission and he said yes! It was kind of crazy figuring out where to meet up but we finally found them. And the Gilbert mission is sooooo nice, it's seriously like a different land when you cross the border. But we drove them to the lights and we met Galina there and it was sooooo much fun! Seriously I am so grateful to have the lights to go to, especially on temple grounds!

So then the second Galina adventure. She called us when we were working at Christmas lights the other night and told us she was going to go do baptisms for the dead at the temple the next day! So she asked us a few questions and stuff. Then later we realized we probably should go with her and she was very happy that we asked because she was nervous about going. And also it was good because the group that was going was all the youth and the recent converts, and she was the only female there. So we accompanied her and it was so cool! Especially since we don't really do baptisms very often, well never. But she liked it a lot and had a lot of questions, but I'm sure they will be able to answered soon. The baptismal font in the Mesa temple is soooooooooooooo cool! Literally everything about the Mesa temple is amazing. I love my mission!

To explain the title, were supposed to talk to everyone as missionaries so the other day we went to go talk to this man who has building a wall outside and he was a little crazy with some of his beliefs and believes that the sky is blue because it's water and he told us that NASA is a liar. So that was interesting...

I hope everyone is participating in the #LIGHTtheWORLD 25 days of service! I have been doing it the best I can and it has been so much fun seeing others be a part of it as well. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season and continue lighting the world through serving as Jesus Christ did!

Hermana Brown

Decked out Christmas house

The zone

Weekly planning plus sister Howard's face. She always takes random pictures of herself and then sends them to me!

Here's one...

But here's a nice one :)

In the VC there is a room full of nativities from all around the world. So here are a few pictures.

More Christmas lights!

WEEK 56: Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful 💨

It has been a week full of thanksgiving, miracles, and Christmas!!! So excited for this Christmas season to start. Especially with the Christmas campaign that the church has come out with this year, "Light the World" in 25 ways over 25 days! If you haven't sent he video yet you can go to Mormon.org and also that is where you can find the daily service calendar starting December 1! I am literally soooooo excited for this to start and I really think it will help the world be brighter and we will be more peaceful. If everyone did it, think of how happy everyone would be! I do love the holiday season because, for the most part, it brings out the happier side of people. I challenge all of you to do the 25 day service thing.

But let's not get too carried away with Christmas, because we had a lovely thanksgiving in Arizona! We spent the morning studying and then we had dinner with the Freestones! They're members in our ward, and the wife is from Guatemala! Maybe she'll make paches for us on Christmas. But they're really nice and super willing to have us at their house. We talked to the English missionaries that morning and they had like 4 or 5 dinner appointments that day! So I'm SUPER grateful that we got one nice thanksgiving dinner and could eat the amount of food we wanted. After the dinner we went home and since we couldn't really visit with people that night, we decided to make chocolate chip cookies for our investigators! It took a while, but it was soooo worth it. The next day we got a lot of texts from the people we sent them to saying they were the best chocolate cookies they've ever had. If you want the recipe, they really are the most amazing chocolate chip cookies!

The day after thanksgiving we got to go Black Friday Shopping!!! Hahahaha, just kidding, we did something even better. We worked at the Christmas lights for the first night! It was so beautiful and I'm so happy they do it in my mission. And this is my second time doing it so they called us as shift leaders, nothing super special, but still cool. They invited the sisters from the Gilbert, Scottsdale, and Tempe missions to help us this year so we get to spend more time in our areas during the week and get to know even more people. I think I am officially accustomed to the Arizona weather because it is like 60 degrees out side at night and I am literally freezing! Despite the cold, Christmas lights is one of my favorite things because 1) You get to feel the spirit of temple grounds for about 3 hours 2) you get to meet and talk with so many people and help them feel the spirit of Christmas 3) It reminds me of salt lake temple square lights. I just love it so much!

Yesterday at church was also soooo great. We had 5 investigators at church, and the other sisters in our branch had about 5 as well, possibly more. So we had around 10 non members at church and it was really great! Last night was also really awesome. It started raining and it was about 8:00 at night and we didn't have any set lesson plans, so we were going to go visit people, but since it was cold and raining we needed to go somewhere where we knew someone would let us in, like a members house. So we pulled over for a second and looked at our list of members and a specific family kept coming to mind, but we were a little hesitant about visiting them because they talk A LOT. So we kept looking but that family was the only that felt right, so we went. We ran to the door to get out of the rain and knocked and a girl probably in her early 20's opened the door and let us in. We had never met her before but she is the daughter of hermana Sanchez and just moved in about a week ago. We started talking and getting to know her and everything and then she asked us to share the new Christmas video with her (it was part of the conversation). So we did and at the end she really opened up to us and said that ever since she came to live with her mom she's felt like she needs to come back to church and so many signs had been pointing to that, and then we knocked on the door and she saw who it was and she said that it really helped her to know. So it was really cool and I'm sooooo glad we followed that prompting to go to that house!

Well, I love you all so much and I hope you had a lovely thanksgiving and you enjoy this upcoming Christmas season! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Brown

We went to downtown Mesa last pday and it was really fun!

Our little Christmas corner in our apartment 🎄 

We did a thankful Spanish board!

 Luces de Navidad Fotos!

This picture was sent to me by my cousin Yvonne that lives in Gilbert, AZ! She ran into Hermana Brown while visiting the lights!

This picture was also sent to me by someone that was there. I am so happy when I receive these pictures!!!

WEEK 55: You can be simultaneously a masterpiece and a work in progress

Hello! Good news! Sister Howard are staying in Escondido together! Another six weeks in this amazing branch. Super grateful for it especially since it's thanksgiving this week! Not sure exactly what our plans will be but we are having dinner with a member. It's weird to think that a year ago I was in the MTC having thanksgiving dinner. The time goes by sooooo fast.

But we had an amazing week! We set three people on date for next month! Two of them are brothers who are eleven and nine years old and never got baptized due to family issues. They are still a little hesitant as to when it's going to happen but they are slowly getting there! The other one is this kid named Juan and he is 17 years old! So we found him last week and he seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon and what we believed, but when we came back for our return appointment he wasn't home, but luckily this week we found him and he is sooooo good! He has questions such about what happens after we die and how we know when God is answering our prayers. So we taught him the restoration and he loved it! I was really trying to keep my cool during the whole lesson because we just felt the Spirit really strong as we were teaching it and you could tell he was listening. Then as we got to the end of the lesson we invited him to pray and read and also to be baptized and he accepted the invitation! So his date is for December 17 and we're so excited! We've been trying to meet with the rest of his family but lately its just been him. And we are not sure if they're not interested or what but Juan turns 18 on December 24 so there will be no parental issues if he wants to get baptized. So that was definitely such a beautiful miracle. 

Since it is thanksgiving this week I would like to thank all of you! I know there is absolutely no way I could be here doing the Lord's work if it wasn't for all of your support. I would also just like to say I'm grateful for my savior Jesus Christ. I know it's only through him that we can change and become better sons and daughters of God. On the mission I have definitely learned that we can become whoever we want to, but it is only possible to change when we use the atonement and acknowledge our Savior. So I hope you all have a wonderful week and thanksgiving! Love you!

Hermana Brown

Fancy reindeer napkin and I was so happy!

From district meeting

Sol Canyon Zone!

We had a Charla foganera on Sunday and a lot of people fro Pueblo ward were there and were very happy to see me as I was them! 

We had a NOCHE de Talentos in our branch on Friday and it was soooo fun! I'll send videos :)

Christmas lights starts this week and we had a meeting with the other missions in Arizona to prepare us! The missions from Tempe, Gilbert, and Scottsdale. So there were sooooooo many sister missionaries in one place. Although these are in the day time, here's some of the statues and stuff they have!

And guess who I ran into from the Tempe mission.... Toni Oka!!! Or I guess it's sister Oka, but she came up to me and we were just like, what?! And then we took a picture

WEEK 54: A Light Shines Through the Darkness

This past week it has probably been one of the busiest weeks on my mission! We've just had so many meetings, lessons, service, and everything. It's been really cool to see though at the beginning of the transfer we didn't have many investigators, people to visit, or anything. But now we know the area, have a full teaching pool and we're so busy every hour of the day! But Sister Howard finally got her iPad this week! So that has been nice during planning it doesn't take as long. This upcoming week looks like it's going to be pretty similar as far as business goes, but it will be great!

This week we don't even know how it happened but we found 11 new investigators! Mainly because we talked with all the members of the families that we're teaching, so that was pretty cool. We were able to contact the Alex, and Rubi again and we met the rest of their family! We talked with the mom and she said she's met with missionaries a lot before and they really helped her get through some hard times. So we are excited to keep teaching them! 

Something that really has effected us here in Mesa and especially the Spanish work is the fact that Donald Trump won the election. Before the election everyone was asking us who we're voting for and now everyone is complaining. We've heard a lot of sad stories about Hispanic kids getting bullied by other kids at school, and it all really shows that we're truly living in the last days. But on the bright side I think it's really going to be a great opportunity for everyone to strengthen their faith in the power the gospel really has. The gospel is really hung that will shine during these dark times. That is something my faith has really grown on that this week. There is so much power in the gospel and if anything can get us through this crazy time the gospel can! 

Our branch presidents daughter came home from her mission this week from the Salt Lake City South mission! So on Saturday we helped them decorate for her homecoming dinner and wow it looked like a wedding! I'll be sure to send pictures. But it's the last week of the transfer, but I think sister Howard and I will stay together since she's still in training. I will let you know! Love you all!

Hermana Brown

Zone pictures from ZTM!

Sorry the picture is blurry but they started testing the Christmas lights!

Homecoming of the branch president's daughter. Mexicans do not mess around.

WEEK 53: Estoy Escondido en Escondido

Hello everybody! We have seen a TON of miracles this week! Things are really getting good! And the work is moving along. I'm going to be honest, I am not super motivated today to write a weekly email so it might be short. But still good!

Thiss past Friday I hit my year mark! The time has passed by soooooo quick but I'm glad I still have 6 months to keep doing this work, because it honestly was amazing! We also had a miracle on Friday night. We just really noticed that the timing of the Lord was perfect. We went to a lesson we had and the parents were busy, but we were able to teach one of the kids really quick. Then as we were leaving we had a lesson at 7 so we were going to work around that area for about 20 minutes so we wouldn't be late. As we were walking to our car we ran into a little boy named Alex that we met a few days before and asked if it was still okay to come on Saturday, but it was such a miracle we ran into him because he said he had a soccer game on Saturday. So we went over to his apartment and met his sister Ruby! We taught them about prayer and it was soooooo special to teach those kids and to see them say a prayer on there own. We also set another appointment for tonight! We were very short on time, but we drove over to our next appointment as fast as we could, and our member arrived at the same time. It was with the Chavez Rodriguez family but only Jose was home so we couldn't go inside. But we did have a nice little contact with him and he got to know hermano Solorzano, who is amazing! So then we had finding time for the rest of the night and at our dinner appointment hermana Allison had mentioned someone that popped up in LDS tools that she tried to visit but they didn't answer. We too tried to visit them a while back but we had not luck, so we told her we would try visiting them tonight! We kind of got lost on our way there but we finally found it. It looked like no one was home but we decided to say a prayer and try to knock the door. As we finished saying the prayer we saw a car pull up in the driveway and it was the family! They are the Mendosa family and they moved about a month ago but they haven't known where the church is so they couldn't make it to church. So they invited us in and it turns out, Aldo the dad is a return missionary and he's from the Dominican Republic, and his wife is a nonmember! So we are going to have a part Member Family to teach! They also invited us for dinner to eat Dominican food! So we really saw the Lord's hand tonight. Although some appointments fell through, we showed up late to a few places, we know we were exactly where we needed to be that night.

One more quick cool story. We went tracting in some apartments the other day and we met a family from china! They were really nice and invited us in and gave us some water and Chinese candy, which was not very good. We had a nice friendly conversation with them and they said they wouldn't mind having the missionaries come over again! It was just really cool to share my testimony with them because they're from China and the gospel is not in China. They are moving back to China in a few months but they were so nice and it was a neat opportunity.

Haha I guess it kind of turned out long! But I love you all so much! I hope you have a wonderful day and never forget how much the Lord loves and how well he knows you!

Hermana Brown

The Asian candy we got! The wrappers are so pretty!

Since we eat at the VC a lot there is a Dairy Queen right there, and so knowing me we go over and get ice cream a lot!

It is sooooo pretty when it rains!

We ran into these members yesterday that used to be in the Spanish branch but switched to English and they're from Colombia! But they had a pet hedgehog and let us hold it!